1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to electrically powered brewing apparatus and more particularly to high volume brewing systems with brewing apparatus operated by electrical controllers.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. 1.97-1.99
For large gatherings of people, such as conventions, large banquets, etc., there is a need for huge volume coffee production systems. These known systems produce six gallons of coffee at a time in six gallon removable urns and can also store up to two hundred forty gallons of coffee in one or more sixty gallon holding tanks to which the freshly brewed coffee is selectively automatically transferred. The removable urns are kept in hot water filled liners in which the water is kept hot by means of an electrical, gas or other heating element. Likewise, the storage, or holding tanks, have liners in which circulated the heated water to keep stored coffee hot.
In coffee brewers which have the capacity to alternatively fill two dispensers, so called xe2x80x9ctwin brewersxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9cdouble brewersxe2x80x9d, only one controller of the brewing cycle with a single power supply and only one water tank and heater are provided. Limitation on the coffee brewing rate of the system is not imposed by the water supply but by the electrical power service required. The hot water dispenser valve which must open to pass hot water from a hot water holding tank through the brew basket containing the coffee or other brew material to start the brew cycle will not open until the water temperature in the hot water holding tank has reached the proper temperature and the speed at which the water in the hot water holding tank can be reheated after one brew cycle to commence another brew cycle is determined in the case of an electrical heater by the amount of electrical power available to the heating element. Because there is only one hot water tank for both of the twin brewers in known systems, enough hot water to fill at least both urns must be heated before either side of the brewer can start a new brew cycle, or the brew cycle of neither side of the brewer can be operated until the other side has completed its brew cycle and the water has again been reheated.
In known high volume coffee brewing systems, as the water in hot water tank is dispensed through a brew basket, new water is added to the hot water tank to maintain a constant pressure head and uniform flow. This is done so that the volume of hot water dispensed can be controlled by controlling the time that the hot water dispensing valve is kept open during the brew cycle. Accordingly, the twin brewer must draw power to heat the water being added during the brew cycle. Because the removable urns in known brewing systems must be kept warm by a hot water liner, they also require additional electrical power for this purpose in addition to the power needed to heat the hot water holding tank.
Because of these electrical power requirements, the brewing rate of known high volume systems is limited by the level of electrical power service available at the brewing site. Because of this approach used in known twin brewer brewing systems, the brewing rate is limited to 0.75 gallons/minute (or 45/hour).
Turning to another problem with known twin brewing systems, should the single controller or its single power supply fail, both sides of the twin brewers and thus the entire brewing system becomes completely dysfunctional; neither xe2x80x9csidexe2x80x9d of twin brewer will work.
Yet another problem with known brewing systems with holding tanks to which freshly brewed coffee is transferred is that the transfer function is automatically performed even in the event of a full tank and the emergency stop switch for one brewer in a twin brewer has no effect on stopping transfer from a second brewer.
The principal object of the invention is to provide a high volume brewing system, apparatus and methods which overcome the above limitation and disadvantages of known high volume brewing systems, apparatus and methods noted above.
The object of the invention is achieved by providing a twin brewer brewing system having a pair of brewers, one and another, each including a hot water tank, a hot water electrical heater for heating the water, a dispenser mechanism for controlled dispensement of the hot water in the hot water tank through a brew basket, a controller for controlling the application of electrical power to the heater to heat the hot water and an electrical power supply for the controller and means associated with each of the controllers of each one of the pair of brewers for disabling the application of electrical power to the heater of the one brewer in response to actuation of a start brew switch of the one brewer while electrical power is being applied to the heater of the other brewer.
Also, the object of the invention is obtained by providing in a brewing system having a hot water dispenser tank for containment of a preselected amount of water needed for a complete brew cycle, means for selectively dispensing the hot water in the hot water dispenser tank into a brew basket during a brew cycle and a manually actuatable brew cycle start switch for initiating the brew cycle, the improvement being a brew cycle controller having means for sensing when the hot water dispenser contains the preselected quantity of water needed for a brew cycle, means for storing the occurrence of manual actuation of the brew cycle start switch and means responsive to both the storing means and the sensing means for controlling the selective dispensing means to delay dispensing of water into the brew basket in response to an actuation of the brew cycle initiation switch until the sensing means senses that the preselected quantity of water needed for a brew cycle is contained in the hot water dispenser tank if the brew cycle start switch is actuated to start a brew cycle before the hot water dispenser tank contains the preselected amount of water.
Obtainment of the object is achieved by providing in a brewing system having a brew cycle start switch to start a brew cycle and a brew cycle status light associated with the start switch, with a brew cycle status light controller having means for causing the light to operate in a first mode of operation if the brew cycle start switch has not been activated to start a brew cycle, means for causing the brew cycle status light to operate in a second mode different from said first mode in response to actuation of the brew cycle start switch before the brewing system is enabled to properly perform a brew cycle and means for causing the brew cycle status light to operate in a third mode different from both said first and second modes during performance of a brew cycle.
Moreover, the object of the invention is obtained in a brewing system having a brewer, a holding tank and means for transferring beverage from the brewer to the holding tank with a transfer controller having a first manually actuatable bistable switch controlling automatic transfer of the beverage to the holding tank upon completion of a brew cycle and a second manually actuatable monostable switch for manually controlling selective transfer of the beverage to the holding tank only while the second monostable switch is manually held in the on state, said monostable switch automatically returning to an off state to stop the transfer of the beverage when not manually held in the on state.
Still, the object is obtained by provision of a twin brewer brewing system comprising a pair of brewers each including its own brew basket, hot water dispenser tank, brew cycle start switch, means for controlling the dispensing of water from the hot water dispenser tank into the brew basket in response to actuation of its own brew cycle start switch, a single emergency stop switch for both of the pair of brewers and means responsive to actuation of the emergency stop switch for causing the dispensing controlling means of both of the pair of brewers to terminate transfer of hot water.
Also, the object of the invention is achieved by providing a twin brewer system comprising a pair of brewers each including a transfer switch and means transferring beverage from each brewer to a holding tank in response to actuation of the transfer switch, an emergency stop switch and means responsive to actuation of the emergency stop switch for preventing the transferring means of both of the pair of brewers from transferring beverage to the holding tank.